Northampton land cover change 2001-2019
Introduction
This report uses data from the National Land Coverage Database (NLCD) to summarize land cover changes in Northampton, Mass. from 2001 to 2019.
The NLCD provides data on land cover and land cover change at a 30 meter resolution. Each 30m square is classified into one of 16 land coverage categories. Data releases every three years, from 2001 to 2019, allow monitoring land cover changes at the resolution of the data.
For this report, the sixteen land cover categories in the NLCD were consolidated to six classes. See the land cover table below for details.
The NLCD data is available from the Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium. An interactive viewer for the underlying data is available here.
Land cover change in Northampton
These tables and charts show land cover change for the City as a whole.
The first chart shows land cover change since 2001. There has been substantial increase in developed land and decrease in forested land. There are has also been a loss of cultivated land and an increase in herbaceous and shrub land.
The second chart gives more detail on the changes. The first chart, above, gives the impression that forest land has been developed and cultivated land has gone to herbaceous and shrub.
The chart below gives a more nuanced view. It shows that some forest land has become herbaceous/shrub and most of the lost cultivated land has been developed.
This table shows land cover for the City in acres and as a percent of total area, and the change in acreage from 2001 to 2019. The “Percent change” column is the change in acreage as a percent of acreage, not the change in percent of total acres.
| Land Cover Acres in Northampton, 2001-2019 | ||||||
| 2001 | 2019 | Change | Percent Change | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acres | Percent | Acres | Percent | Acres | ||
| Developed | 5,966 | 26% | 6,174 | 27% | 208 | 3% |
| Forest | 10,853 | 47% | 10,672 | 47% | -181 | -2% |
| Cultivated | 2,496 | 11% | 2,437 | 11% | -59 | -2% |
| Water/Wetland | 3,437 | 15% | 3,424 | 15% | -13 | 0% |
| Herbaceous/Shrub | 81 | 0% | 136 | 1% | 55 | 68% |
| Other | 49 | 0% | 38 | 0% | -11 | -22% |
| Data: Multi-Resolution Land Characteristics Consortium | Analysis: Kent S Johnson | ||||||
Land cover classes
For this report, the sixteen land cover categories in the NLCD were consolidated to six classes. This table shows the land cover categories in the NLCD and the consolidated classes to which they have been assigned.
| Reporting classes for NLCD categories | |
| NLCD category | |
|---|---|
| Developed | Developed, Open Space |
| Developed, Low Intensity | |
| Developed, Medium Intensity | |
| Developed, High Intensity | |
| Forest | Deciduous Forest |
| Evergreen Forest | |
| Mixed Forest | |
| Cultivated | Hay/Pasture |
| Cultivated Crops | |
| Water/Wetland | Open Water |
| Woody Wetlands | |
| Emergent Herbaceuous Wetlands | |
| Herbaceous/Shrub | Shrub/Scrub |
| Herbaceuous | |
| Other | Unclassified |
| Perennial Snow/Ice | |
| Barren Land | |